LONGVIEW – LeTourneau University women's basketball team lost to East Texas Baptist, 67-53, Thursday night in the first of the two meetings between the two teams this week.

Both schools will lock horns again Saturday in Marshall, Texas to complete the home-and-home series.

The YellowJackets (10-8, 6-3 American Southwest Conference) were trying to pull within a game of the Tigers (14-4, 8-1) in the top-heavy East Division of the league. But a slow second quarter derailed those plans for night.

ETBU broke a 16-16 tie by outscoring LETU, 20-8, in the second period to take a 36-24 lead into the break. The Tigers shot 8 of 15 from the floor in the quarter, while the Jackets were held to 1 of 12.

East Texas Baptist, which is receiving votes in the d3hoops.com national poll, pushed its lead to 17 on a three-pointer by Kendrick Clark. But LeTourneau's Scruffy Hopkins and Flora Akingbade answered on the next two trips down the floor, and Hopkins scored at the 3:27 mark to pull the Jackets within 11. Malacia Guy's 3-pointer with 1:34 left in the third made it 47-37. Keauna Whitfield sank two free throws in the last minute to cut the gap to eight, but Clark drained another triple to send the Tigers into the fourth ahead by 11.

The YellowJackets held the Tigers to 31.3 percent shooting in the third period. LeTourneau hit 41.7 percent of its shots in the quarter.

Vanessa Cruz opened the fourth with a three to bring LETU within eight. But ETBU went on an 11-0 run over a three-minute span to mushroom the lead out to 19, and the Jackets could not recover.

Whitfield finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Micayla Mikulski had 11 points. Hopkins added eight points, five boards and four steals. Akingbade pulled down 12 rebounds.

Amanda Wilson finished with 16 points, and Kim Childress and Clark each scored 15 for the Tigers, who shot 45.6 percent, and outrebounded the YellowJackets, 42-33.

The two teams will tip off at 1 p.m. Saturday at ETBU.